Empire State of Mind

So, I have recently come back from 5 days in my favorite city, New York! My best friend and I went for a girly trip of sights and shops plus lot's and I mean lot's of food!
This has been my third time visiting the Big Apple and it really doesn't fail to exceed all expectations. We stayed on W 53rd St, 7th Avenue, a 7 minute walk from Central Park and a 7 minute walk from Times Square, right in the middle of everything!

After what seemed like the most eventful flight in the world. we arrived in brilliant sunshine although we were expecting arctic temperatures! So our first point of call had to be none other than Times Square where we took a shameless amount of selfies, if anyone were to be playing Spot the Tourist we would have stood out like a sore thumb! Seeing Lou's face made it extra special, as she was just in awe of everything going on around us! Next stop the Empire State Building. Despite this being my second visit to the Empire State, it was just as breathtaking as the first and the clear blue skies made it extra special. It was after this that the first league of shopping commenced Macy's, Victoria Secret etc. Our first night dinner was none other than TGI Fridays, it had to be done when you were staying on the same avenue as Americas largest one! After this we paid a visit to the 230th Fifth Bar where we enjoyed Hot Chocolates with Vanilla Vodka. All in all we were up 25 hours before we made our way back to our hotel, how did we manage it?! It just goes to show what shopping, sights and a vanilla vodka can do!

Our second day we went on to visit Woodbury Common which is a designer shopping outlet, another recommendation of mine! We got endless amounts of bargains and shopped until we dropped (I must add that the shopping did not stop when we got back to 7th Avenue). We also went for dinner at the Brooklyn Diner where I was presented with a monster chicken pot pie which I must say was absolutely delish!

Wednesday was by far the WETTEST day I have ever experience, by this I mean, we were soaked through to our skin! But did we let it stop our sight seeing? Of course not!
After a brief visit to Grand Central and a breakfast of french toast at the amazing Penelope's (Lexington Ave) we had to take at least one obligatory trip in a yellow taxi down to Soho and then ventured towards Ground Zero, which is the most moving place I have ever experience, you cannot put into words your feelings and your outlook on life once you visit and see what's inside. It puts like into perspective and makes you appreciate the saying 'live each day like it is your last'. We made it to the Statue of Liberty before the rain began again and finished off with even more shopping in Century 21. Dinner was at the famous Carmines Italian family restaurant.

Penelope's French Toast

Thursday came and was dry-ish today was a more relaxed day Central Park was on our agenda along with Bloomingdales along with every other shop we laid our eyes on! However, first up was breakfast at Sarabeth's Central Park South, this was a place I had seen on a blog myself and knew it was our sort of place! We go there before it opened to be presented with a queue of people which made it even more exciting. We both enjoyed a Morning Crunch granola bowl, which could possibly have been one of the nicest things I have EVER eaten. Those who know me, know I have a granola obsession! Our night finished with MORE food at Ellen's Stardust Diner, typical diner food and all of the staff are on or trying to be on Broadway, the atmosphere was insane!

Sarabeth's Morning Crunch

Friday came far too early, this trip felt like a lifetime away when we booked it and it was more than I could have ever asked for. We spent the whole time in crying with laughter and most importantly having quality time together! After spending everyday together at school, then college, when we eventually had to admit defeat and become grown ups with jobs and boyfriends, we found it very hard to adjust, my best friend is practically my sister! We obviously had to pay another visit to Sarabeth's where this time I had a Garden Omelette (not to everyone's taste I know!) and Louise had bacon eggs Benedict a delicacy which I think I must be the only person in the world that doesn't like it! We visited Carlos' Bakery and done our final bits of shopping before doing Top of the Rock in the meantime we did have our Times Square debut, where the camera came on us and we were on the big screens for all the world to see, the excitement in our faces as we photobombed a large group of tourists was utterly priceless. Top of the Rock was something I didn't do before andonce again, the weather was PERFECT and the views were to die for, on our next visit (yes, we are already planning it!) we would like to visit Top of the Rock at night! It was then time to make our way back to the airport where went spent our time reminiscing over a pretzel!

I know there is noting worse than looking at someones holiday photos and hearing every single detail but it really is the concrete jungle where dreams are made of and if you haven't already, you need to!